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All posts for the month June, 2012

It’s old news now, but Nora Ephron passed away on Tuesday in New York City. She was 71-years-old.

I’m not going to pretend that I can say anything better about her than what others have already said. Nora was a journalist, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, movie producer and director and so much more. Nora did everything she undertook in a style all her own and with her wonderful trademark wit. I greatly admired her work and I’m sad that she’s gone.

I’m sharing a portion of a video I found a few years ago with her and another writing legend, Pete Hamill. They’re discussing the old newsroom at the New York Post. It’s a delightful conversation with two delightful people.

Just in case you were too busy yesterday trying to stay cool with all this hot weather around here and weren’t paying attention to the news, the Supreme Court upheld the basic provisions of the health care overhaul. Chief Justice Roberts joined the four more liberal judges on the court to make this a great day for President Obama and for those of us who support real change in this country.

It seems like the poor and middle class here—and I am one of them—can’t seem to catch a break on health care. We’re not rich, we’re not part of that 1%. Yesterday was our day to feel a little better about ourselves. We’ll take it when we can get it.

This was an historic day for us, a day for the news media to get this important event reported fast and accurately. CNN was fast, but not accurate.

They quickly reported that the health care mandate was shot down by the Supreme Court only to have to reverse themselves a minute later. Yes, FOX made the same mistake but I never expect anything to be reported at FOX correctly. CNN is another story.

Over the years, a lot of us have come to trust CNN. With all their seasoned journalists, it’s a bit shocking to see them get this so wrong. For a network that needs better ratings badly, this isn’t the way to approach it.

But I’ll try to look on the bright side of this. Seeing that CNN reported it wrong makes the victory all that much sweeter.

Is the color of your car red? If it is, you’re probably already aware of the fact that red cars seem to get more speeding and/or parking tickets, but did you also know that birds want to shit on red cars more than any other color?

It’s true! Researchers have studied this. Why the hell they would waste money on it I have no idea but Gawkeris sharing the results.

The image I’m using here of the cat kind of looks like the one who almost got into my apartment back in March.

Two of the windows in my apartment here in Covington go from ceiling to floor. During one of those warmer days in March and before I put the A.C. unit back in one of those windows, I had a window open to let some air in.

I was at my writing desk working when I looked to my left and saw this cat staring at me. I should mention the fact that he or she was also eating a bird. I hated that fact, so I stopped looking at the cat—or at least I tried to. Every so often I’d look back to see the cat still eating and still staring.

A couple minutes went by and I looked out my window again. The cat was finished with the bird. Now the cat was in my window sill looking like he or she was about to enter my apartment.

“You can’t come in here,” I said. The cat seemed to understand what I was saying and took out.

It’s strange seeing all these stray cats in Covington. I’ve written about them before in my CityBeat column. These cats are everywhere.

Sometimes I go outside and set on the front steps that lead up to my apartment building. Smoking a cigarette, I watch them walk or run around. Most don’t want to have anything to do with me but not all. Some act like they want to be fed. So far, I haven’t done that.

Last week, I was in Walgreen picking up something and as I left, there was a stray cat right outside the door just laying there. The cat didn’t look sick or anything. In fact the cat seemed very friendly.

I’m thinking maybe it wanted a handout. I was tempted to go back inside the store and buy some cat food but didn’t. I’m very aware of how I am. If I start this shit, I’ll ever stop. I’ll be feeding every stray cat in Covington, Kentucky.

I’m getting all excited about Homearama 2012! It’s coming in less than a week!

Naw, I’m not excited at all but it’s fine if you are. Here’s a link to the Business Courier that talks about it and provides a slideshow for you to enjoy. See how nice I’m being?

I went to a few of these back in my married days. I didn’t enjoy them all that much back then and I’m sure I’d be even worse touring those homes now. I could never see the point in looking at something I could never afford.

Couldn’t afford it then, can’t afford it now. I’m happy where I am—living in and walking the streets of Covington. That’s my Homearama.

I was thinking the other day that this blog is kind of a journal for me. If you come here often, you know I sometimes write about people I encounter. Sure, I never use real names and I change a few facts around so people won’t recognize themselves, but I know who I’m really writing about and it’s a release for me. Writing it down helps me sort things out.

Ray’s on my mind right now. He’s my neighbor here in Covington, Kentucky that I wrote about last November. He lives in apartment #2 right across the hall from me. We became friends early one morning over a cup of coffee.

Ray isn’t his real name and Ray no longer lives in apartment #2.

He bought his first house this spring. He was really excited about it and drove me past it one afternoon—so proud to be a homeowner. I was and still am happy for him.

I offered to help him move, boxed up a few things for him. Before Ray moved into his house, we exchanged phone numbers and promised to stay in touch. There was no doubt in my mind that we would. We haven’t.

I called him a few times and left messages on his voice mail. He’s never returned the calls. I ran into him one afternoon when he was coming out of a hardware store on Madison Avenue. He was in a hurry and barely said hello. Same thing when I saw him in Walgreens.

I don’t get it. Since we’re no longer neighbors we can no longer be friends?

I know how I am. Sooner or later I’m going to run into Ray and I’m going to stop him and ask what’s up. “What’s with this giving me the cold shoulder and acting like I’m nobody?”

Or maybe I’ll just let it go—need to change my ways a little bit here. Yes, I’ll be sad about it for a while but I can get over it and move on. Something I’ve been discovering lately in my old age is I shouldn’t try to repair something when I don’t know how it got broken.

I know have a new neighbor in apartment #2. Maybe I’ll knock on that door and see if whoever is living there would like to have a cup of coffee with me. Maybe I won’t.

I don’t think much about this person, but I need a blog post this morning.

I have nothing against Nadya Suleman—hell, I don’t even know the woman. I know she’s the “Octomom,” giving birth to eight kids a few years ago. I didn’t pay much attention to it then and I’m not paying much attention to it now. You know, I’m kinda like everybody else. Some things interest me, some things don’t.

However, I am somewhat interested in people who are upset with her for trying to make money by selling topless photos of herself and for making a porn movie. Of course these same people were upset when they found out she was on public assistance and not making any money at all when she had all those kids. Here we go—damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

With Suleman’s home in foreclosure, I say let her make money anyway she wants. She’s trying to support all those children. Who are we to judge what she does to make a living. Leave her the hell alone!

OK. That’s my take on the Octomom. Now I’m going to go back to my life and not think much about her.